BROWNS STAND STRONG

Everything fell into place for the star-crossed Browns to earn their first playoff game yesterday since their rebirth.

But it wouldn't be like them to simply win and get in, would it?

Turning back Michael Vick and the Atlanta Falcons with a goal-line stand in the final minute and finally winning at home, 24-16, behind William Green's 178-yard rushing outburst and two touchdowns were not enough to clinch a playoff spot.

Because of Miami's collapsing loss to New England, the Browns had to wait three hours for the Jets to defeat Green Bay to learn their fate.

The Jets' win knocked out division rivals Miami and New England, both 9-7, and pushed the 9-7 Browns to the No. 6 seed in the AFC playoff field. They will face the hated Pittsburgh Steelers in a first-round game in Heinz Field on Sunday at 1 p.m.

And they will do so without Tim Couch, who suffered a broken right leg in the second quarter and had to watch on television from the trainer's room as Kelly Holcomb took over with the playoffs on the line.

Coming full circle from Game 1 in September, Holcomb overcame two interceptions and gave the Browns a 17-16 lead on a 15-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Johnson with 6:58 to play.

And even after Green turned into Secretariat with a breathtaking 64-yard touchdown gallop three minutes later, the game came down to a standoff between Vick and the Browns' defense.

In a matter of a few flicks of his left wrist, Vick snapped the Falcons to the Browns' 4 with 1:23 remaining. During the drive, the announcement was made to the crowd - and the Falcons - that New Orleans had lost to Carolina, thus assuring Atlanta an NFC playoff berth even if it lost.

The subliminal message must have rung in Atlanta coach Dan Reeves' ears. For on the next four plays, Reeves did not allow Vick to win the game with his celebrated legs. The Falcons tried three handoffs to Warrick Dunn sandwiched around a Vick pass.

"You figure one of those four plays would be in Vick's hands," confessed a surprised Butch Davis.

On first down, linebacker Earl Holmes grabbed Dunn's right ankle and held on to keep him from piercing the goal line as Brant Boyer piled on. On second down from the 1, Vick threw incomplete for tight end Alge Crumpler, who was covered by Dwayne Rudd. On third down, Rudd filled a hole and blasted Dunn head-on at the 1. And on fourth down, Holmes wrapped up Dunn for no gain.

"I don't think in a game of this magnitude I've ever been around a goal-line stand like that," Davis said. "It was an unbelievable statement about the will and courage of the guys playing at that point."

It also was sweet redemption for Rudd, whose helmet toss during the penultimate play in Game 1 cost the Browns a precious victory against Kansas City and haunted the organization for 16 weeks.

"To see Rudd make that crucial stop on third-and-1 was a beautiful sight," said safety Earl Little.

"It gives me a chance to get a little more sleep at night. It's over. Life goes on," Rudd said.

Rudd's folly was not buried completely, however, until the Jets eliminated Miami and New England.

Watching on television as the Dolphins blew their game, players wailed when Adam Vinatieri's winning field goal kept alive the possibility the Browns might get closed out of the playoffs.

Indeed, the Browns seemed intent in following their script of losing big games at home. Couch threw one interception, Holcomb had two, and Quincy Morgan punctuated a horrendous day with a fumble at the Falcons' 25 in the third quarter.

Morgan, who also was penalized three times in the game, said in the agonizing period before the Browns officially got in, "I'd give anything to get in the playoffs and redeem myself."

But even as those mistakes were allowing the Falcons to score 16 straight points and reverse a 10-0 Cleveland lead, the fans simply would not let the Browns lose.

"I really want to thank those legendary Browns fans today. This was a playoff atmosphere and those people made a difference," Davis said.

In the fourth quarter, Holcomb started shaking off the rust accumulated in 11 weeks since his last appearance. And the defense rose up and started playing as advertised in training camp.

Vick never ventured far afoot, and when he did run, he was hit hard. Corey Fuller, Holmes and Robert Griffith each got good licks on Vick in the second half. And then Fuller forced the defense's third turnover when he stripped fullback George Layne of the ball and Gerard Warren recovered at the Falcons' 11 with 8:25 to go.

"We finally stepped up when the offense struggled," Fuller said.

Three plays later, Holcomb fired the ball to Johnson for the touchdown that put the Browns ahead, 17-16.

And then the Browns jumped on Green and rode him for another touchdown.

"That's why we took him [in the draft], for days like today when he can be the horse and if you had to ride him, you could ride him into the end zone and win," Davis said.

At the 3:53 mark, Green electrified the fans and team by turning a "typical off-tackle" run into a 64-yard touchdown. After he outran stumbling Atlanta cornerback Ashley Ambrose to the end zone, Green simply stood tall and clutched the ball rather than spiking it.

"I don't know why I didn't spike the ball. I just usually don't," Green said.

Said right tackle Ryan Tucker: "William Green was phenomenal. That guy stepped up to the plate and hit a home run."

But it still came down to the goal-line stand at the end.

And after the long day was over, Davis, who said weeks earlier that the Browns were closer to an expansion team than a playoff team, was proved wrong by his players.

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